


The Ghost of Stoneybrook River

by Rina (rinadoll)



Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family, Ghosts, Halloween, Happy Ending, Haunted House, Romance, Trick or Treat: Treat, Trick or Treat: Trick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 14:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21163217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinadoll/pseuds/Rina
Summary: Weird things start happening as Halloween gets closer. Can Kristy, Dawn, Mary Anne, and Charlie figure out what's wrong before it's too late?





	The Ghost of Stoneybrook River

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ScarletCorvid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletCorvid/gifts).

> I went with a timeline where the BSC were 13 and graduated 8th grade in 2000, when the books ended and they were allowed to grow up. This is October 2011, when they are all in their 20s.
> 
> Happy Trick or Treat!

  
“Got it!” Charlie’s voice was oddly triumphant for being at Mary Anne’s favorite antique market so early on a Saturday morning.

Kristy set down the old baseball mitt she’d been testing, and found him across the aisle. “Baseball card?”

“Ring,” he said, holding it out. 

Kristy picked it up--the burnished gold ring was delicate and inlaid with pearls and pretty much screamed MARY ANNE SPIER. “Can you afford it?” she asked, ever nosy and practical. 

“The whole set is yours for $30,” the seller cut in. She was intent on her People magazine, but clearly paying more attention than she seemed.

Kristy whistled. “Even you can afford it. What else is included?”

“Necklace and pin,” Charlie said, gesturing down as he took the ring back and inspected it. “Only 30? Is it as old as it looks?”

“About 1890, I hear,” the woman said, setting down her magazine. “Got some nicks, still wearable. You in or what?”

“Hey, Charlie, can I have the pin for Dawn?” Kristy asked. She’d picked it up and was turning it around carefully. “Look at the tree, it’s perfect for her new project down at the river. Looks just like the willow there, see?

“Chip in $10, and it’s yours,” Charlie said, holding his hand out. 

Kristy fished in her pocket for some singles and handed them over. The seller boxed up all three things separately and Charlie hid his packages in his jacket pocket. They were back at a sports booth when Mary Anne and Dawn found them.

“Pumpkin pancake time?” Mary Anne asked, slipping her hand into Charlie’s. 

“Lead the way,” he said, following her towards the doors, Kristy and Dawn in line behind him.

After two years of living together in a rental house, they all had a pretty solid routine. The antique market was always followed by a Thomas family favorite restaurant. Saturdays that started at the gym was always followed by smoothies and tea at Dawn’s favorite vegetarian restaurant. (The only vegetarian restaurant, as Kristy reminded her each time.) 

Maybe it was weird that the four of them lived together: two sets of siblings, dating each other’s siblings. Kristy’d gotten weird looks in grad school when they’d found the house. Incestuous was one term tossed around. But Kristy knew that guy was just jealous that she was the top of their class and couldn’t get over it. 

It worked for them, that was all. The bungalow was near Bradford Court, which they all loved. Dawn and Kristy had been dating for three years when they found it, and although it had taken Kristy awhile to agree to the change, she was all in once she decided. Mary Anne and Charlie had only been dating a year then, and Richard still thought that the craft room/guest room was actually Mary Anne’s bedroom, but it had felt right. Dawn and Charlie had become friends when Kristy visited Charlie at college in California, and all four of them got along like gangbusters. Kristy wouldn’t trade any bit of it for anything.

Which is why the fight was so weird. They’d all disagreed at various points, of course, and argued, but nothing like this. A disagreement about how to carve a pumpkin had spiraled quickly and brutally in a completely new direction.

“How about you back off a little, let me get a word in sometimes,” Mary Anne snapped. “I’m so sick of this. If you would stop smothering me all of time, maybe I’d actually want to spend time with you.” She glared at him, fists clenched and cheeks red. 

“You don’t want to spend time with me?” Charlie yelled. “Fine! I’ll take my overbearing self out of your way.” He stormed out of the kitchen, and the slam of the front door made Kristy jump. 

“Pompous jackass,” Mary Anne growled as she stalked towards the stairs, and Kristy would have sworn she didn’t even look like herself. “Thinks he knows me better than I do? He can just go get stuffed.”

“He left,” Kristy said, shocked. “He _left_.” All of the Thomases were so careful to avoid that.

“She _swore_,” Dawn said, brow furrowed. She looked closely at Kristy. “He’ll come back and apologize,” she said, squeezing Kristy’s hand and then wrapping her in a hug. 

But he didn’t come back that night, or the night after.

  
Two days of reliving the scene and Mary Anne couldn’t even explain how the project had turned into a fight. She hadn’t been in a bad mood. Charlie had been laughing and joking not ten minutes before. Things had felt normal, and then it was like a cloud descended and she was so angry she couldn’t contain it. She’d never felt so out of control.

And she hadn’t seen Charlie since. She’d cooled down after a day and called the gym where he worked as a sports therapist. He was working his shifts, he just wasn’t coming home.

She couldn’t figure if she’d scared him away, or if he’d felt his own cloud. She wasn’t sleeping well without him, nightmare after nightmare, and Dawn said Kristy wasn’t, either.

Her shift on the reference desk ended, and she gathered her lunch and her jacket to bring to the park. The weather had finally shifted to feeling really autumnal, and with only a week to Halloween, it was about time. 

She settled under her favorite tree, comfort read Pride and Prejudice on her lap, sandwich to the side. She was only a chapter further in when a shadow crossed the page and she looked up.

Charlie looked like hell, pale and hair a disheveled mess. “Can I sit, please?” he asked quietly. 

“Yes,” she answered, overlapping him. 

They sat cross legged, knees almost touching. She wasn’t sure where to start, and he didn’t seem much better off.

“I don’t feel smothered at all,” Mary Anne said, fiddling with her skirt hem. “I never have. I’m not even afraid it could happen.”

Charlie looked relieved. “I thought we had a good balance,” he said. “I know I’ve always felt supported by you, and as much as I love doing things with you, I love that you have your groups and hobbies because _you_ love them.”

“I feel the same,” Mary Anne said. “And I enjoy going to your games. You always look very handsome, and I get so much crafting done.”

He smiled at that familiar refrain, and then shook his head. “I feel sick every time I think about how I left,” Charlie said, and Mary Anne took his hand. “I don’t get it, Mary Anne. I never wanted to do that. It’s like my body had a mind of its own. I was so angry, and I can’t even explain why. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Mary Anne said. “It felt so weird. One minute everything was fine, and then the next--”

“I hated everything and everyone,” Charlie finished. Mary Anne nodded. 

“Chalk it up to a full moon?” Charlie asked. 

“I can’t think of any other reason,” Mary Anne said, relieved to have this odd episode over.

They spent the rest of her lunch break with her head in his lap as he read aloud to her.

  
Charlie came home and things looked almost back to normal. Kristy was mad at him, and he bounced between understanding and getting mad back. Mary Anne was trying hard to be calm and relaxed, and mostly succeeding. Everyone seemed just a little on edge, though, and no one would join her for some restorative yoga.

At least that was familiar.

Dawn finished her morning flow, dressed, and joined Kristy at the breakfast nook that did more duty as a study area. Despite Mary Anne’s best efforts, meals were more often in the living room than at a table. Kristy had a black tea waiting for her, as she sipped her own coffee and worked on a project for a business class. She’d already done a masters in recreation, and was getting more business classes in before opening her own kids gym. She and Dawn loved planning out what it would offer.

Kristy looked up and smiled. “You look beautiful,” she said.

Dawn laughed. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a french braid, and her outfit was more suited for the inevitable muddiness and wetness of her environmental science class project than for being attractive.

“Those are your fancy boots,” Kristy pointed out. “You can’t fool me, you’re dressed for mess and success.”

“Good eye,” Dawn said, sitting next to her and giving her a kiss. “It’s my first day as a student manager, I want to feel the part.”

“You’ll rock it,” Kristy promised, tugging her braid. “Oh! I almost forgot.” She jogged for the stairs as Dawn sipped her perfectly made tea. 

She came back, setting a box in front of Dawn and sliding into her seat. “Congratulations, manager.”

“Really?” Dawn asked, surprised. She opened the box and her mouth dropped open. Kristy had never given her jewelry. She lifted the vintage-looking brooch with an embroidered willow tree under glass. “Kristy, this is fantastic.”

“Charlie and I found it at the antique market,” Kristy said, her voice darkening slightly at her brother’s name. “It reminded me of the tree on your project.” 

“It’s perfect, thank you,” Dawn said, leaning over for another kiss, this one less quick. 

“What were you and Charlie doing looking at jewelry, anyway?” she asked, after a few minutes.

Kristy froze. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to say,” she said. “He found something he’d like to give to Mary Anne. Or he did want to, anyway. I don’t know where things stand.”

Dawn’s eyes lit up. “I’m sure he still wants to! Christmas, maybe? She’d think it was epically romantic to get engaged for Christmas.”

Kristy shrugged. “Maybe. But this was part of the set he got Mary Anne, a ring and a necklace.”

“I can’t wait to ask him about it,” she said happily. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he didn’t mean for you to keep it from me, I don’t count like that.” Kristy rolled her eyes and Dawn finished her tea. “All right, here we go,” she said, butterflies in her stomach. “See you tonight.”

“Love you,” Kristy said. “Knock ‘em dead.”

And Dawn felt fairly confident that she did. 

“Oh! And get this,” she said, bouncing a bit as she grabbed another slice of pizza. All four of them were in the living room, and they’d ordered in as a celebration of her first day. “Apparently the site is haunted!” Sue her, she’d never gotten over her fascination with ghosts.

“Did you see anything?” Mary Anne asked. She was tucked under an afghan in a chair across the room from Charlie.

“Not yet,” Dawn said. “Apparently it was this young woman who drowned in a storm after her fiancee cheated on her. Sad, right?”

Kristy made a face. “Dumb. Why would you put yourself in danger just because some idiot cheated on you?”

“She was heartbroken,” Mary Anne protested. "She wasn't thinking about herself." 

“There’s always someone else somewhere,” Kristy said, cramming her crusts in her mouth. “I’m going to do some homework.” She disappeared up the steps, and Dawn could feel the already low energy in the room sour.

Charlie left first, mumbling an excuse. Mary Anne left to quilt in the craft room, and Dawn was left to do the day’s evaluation and finalize plans for the next day.

When she got to her and Kristy’s room, the lights were already off except for the small lamp on Kristy’s nightstand. She was sprawled out in her usual boxers and henley, paging through a book. 

It started out normally. Dawn debated two tops for the morning, Kristy gave her opinion. Dawn commented that it felt cold in there all of a sudden, Kristy gave her opinion on that. And then it spiraled.

“I don’t know why you’d get so excited about an engagement, anyway,” Kristy said, forcefully turning the pages and almost ripping one. “Marriage is bad enough, but especially at our age. Look at how it failed with all of our parents.”

“There’s nothing wrong with marriage,” Dawn said, exasperated. “Richard didn’t divorce Alma, right? And they were young.”

“Oh, please,” Kristy said. “You and your Mom would have still moved back to town and he’d probably have cheated on Alma and dumped her.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Dawn said, folding her arms. “Richard? Have you met him? What is up with you?”

“Nothing!” Kristy said, shutting the book and slamming it on the nightstand. “I’m just saying! Marriage isn’t worth it. No one stays married when they get married young.”

“The Kishis did,” Dawn said, wishing she could stop herself from keeping this ridiculous conversation going. 

“They weren’t young,” Kristy said. 

“Whatever,” Dawn said, sliding in beside Kristy. “Can you move over a little?”

“I can move over a lot,” Kristy said, jumping out of the bed. “Have the whole thing, sweetheart.” 

Her tone made the endearment sound like a curse, and Dawn huffed a sigh. “Kristy--”

“No, forget it. Marriage is stupid, and I don’t know why you won’t agree. I always told you all that I was never getting married, and it’s nothing to get excited about. I’m going to sleep in the guest room.” She grabbed her pillow and stormed out, leaving Dawn angry and a little sick to her stomach.

  
It was the post-lunch naptime lull in the children’s department. Mary Anne was trying to get through some reading from the social work class she was taking in library school, but she couldn’t concentrate. She just kept doodling little ghosts in her note margins.

“Exciting Halloween plans tomorrow?” Her coworker, Katy Porter, pointed to her notes. 

Mary Anne shrugged. “We don’t really have any this year. Kristy and Charlie usually go all out in decorating, but no one’s been in the mood.” After the pumpkin debacle, nothing else had gone up or been finished.

“Our place is more like a tomb than anything this year.” Dawn stepped up to the desk, heavy jacket on and a pinched look on her face. 

“Hi! It really is,” Mary Anne agreed. Things hadn’t been the same between her and Charlie, and now Dawn and Kristy were acting oddly, too. Kristy was still mad at Charlie, and Mary Anne felt she was trying to avoid all of them now. It was a mess.

“What is that?” Katy’s voice was uneven. She pointed to Dawn’s jacket, her hand shaking.

“Oh, that’s pretty,” Mary Anne said, peering closer. “Is that new?”

“Kristy gave it to me this week,” Dawn said. “I’m just going to browse until you’re ready for lunch, Mary Anne.”

“No, wait,” Katy said. “Where did she get it? Were there any other pieces?”

Dawn looked uncomfortable. “Yeah, there were two others, but her brother bought them. From the antique mart.”

“Can I see it?” 

Dawn shrugged. “Sure, I guess.” She unpinned the brooch and handed it to Katy, who turned it over. 

“CWP, 1892,” Katy read, tracing the small engraved script. “Cecily Wilson Porter. My third great aunt. Dawn, you have to get rid of this. Destroy it.”

“Whoa,” Dawn objected, grabbing the pin back. “What are you talking about?” She glanced at Mary Anne, who shook her head in confusion. This was unlike Katy.

“Look. I know this sounds weird, but the whole set is cursed.” Katy bit her lip. “I know, okay? I know how this sounds. But my family has tried for ages to get rid of it. It keeps coming back, but only after it destroys someone’s life. The stories have been passed down for generations. I thought it was finally gone, my cousin was supposed to have destroyed it, but here’s part of it. You’ve seen the rest?”

“No, but Kristy has,” Dawn said. It did sound ridiculous, but Mary Anne was getting nervous anyway, and Dawn looked it, too. Katy seemed so earnest. “Why do you say it’s cursed?”

“The necklace and ring belonged to Cecily. Do you know the ghost down by the river?” Dawn nodded and Mary Anne’s heart leapt. Charlie bought a ring? “That was her.”

“So she’s haunting the jewelry her unfaithful fiancee gave her?” Mary Anne asked. “Doesn’t she need help letting go, then? Not having it destroyed?”

Katy snorted. “No. Cecily was a spoiled brat. Her father didn’t see it, and got her everything she wanted. Including her older sister’s true love.”

“Oh,” Mary Anne said, taken aback. That wasn’t very romantically tragic.

“Exactly,” Katy said. “Her sister Tess had been in love with Jack for years, and by all reports, he’d loved her, too. But their father bullied him into proposing to Cecily instead, which broke her heart. Cecily didn’t care. But she did care when it turned out that Jack and Tess were still meeting in secret. Tess swore it was as friends and siblings-to-be. She was kind of a goody-goody, so that’s probably true.”

“But Cecily didn’t believe her?” Dawn asked. 

“Or didn’t care,” Katy said. “She cursed both of them to lifetimes of misery, said Jack would get his ring back over her dead body, and flounced off to the river to pout. She drowned, and he got the ring back, along with the necklace.”

“And the brooch?” Mary Anne asked.

“That was Tess’s,” Katy said. “Cecily’s body was found by the willow tree at the river, so Tess embroidered the tree here with Cecily’s hair and had it inscribed to her memory.”

“Oh, gross,” Dawn exclaimed, dropping the pin on the reference desk. 

“Victorian mourning brooch?” Mary Anne asked, poking at the glass covering the embroidery.

“Yep,” Katy confirmed.

“That was a thing?” Dawn asked. “Why on earth would she want it? Cecily tried to ruin her life.”

“But it was her sister,” Katy said. 

Mary Anne nodded. “So what is the curse? Misery?”

“Everyone who has bought the set to give to someone they love has broken up," Katy said. "And most have died. Including Tess and Jack." 

Mary Anne gasped as Katy continued. "Tab was supposed to have destroyed it, I don't know why she didn't. I guess it got gathered up for sale when she died, and it came back again.”

“So we really have to destroy it?” Mary Anne asked. 

“Please do it,” Katy said.”Someone has to be brave enough, and apparently my family isn’t.”

“We have to tell Kristy first,” Dawn said firmly. “I’m not smashing her gift without her knowing why. Charlie has to know, too.”

“We’ll do all three tonight,” Mary Anne said, and Dawn nodded. 

  
The afternoon felt interminable. Dawn did her work, constantly checking to make sure that the brooch was in her pocket--she couldn’t bear to wear it now. 

She was the first one back in the early twilight, and home didn’t feel cozy or welcoming. For the first time, she didn’t feel safe in her own space. 

Dawn went upstairs to change out of her project clothes, and kept glancing over her shoulder. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her the entire time. 

On her way back downstairs, she hesitated by Mary Anne and Charlie’s room. She shivered as a chill went over her, causing goosebumps along her arms. She was rubbing them briskly when she caught a glimpse of something out the corner of her eye.

She whirled around, but there was nothing. 

She heard the front door slam and Charlie’s heavy treads as he took the stairs a few at a time.

“Hello,” he said, surprised to see her standing by his door. 

“Hey.” She pulled her brooch out of her pocket and held it up. “Did Mary Anne talk with you?”

“Something about a jewelry set, something she wasn’t even supposed to know about, being haunted,” he said, raising his eyebrows at her.

Dawn shrugged. “I didn’t tell her, Katy did. Can I see it?”

“Before the woman I love insists we destroy the engagement ring I bought her?” Charlie asked. “Sure, why not.”

Dawn followed him in and perched on the cedar chest at the foot of their bed. Charlie pulled the boxes from one of his drawers and set them next to Dawn. 

“Oh, this would have been perfect,” Dawn said, sliding the delicate pearl ring onto her finger and admiring it. 

“Vintage, romantic, and inexpensive,” Charlie sighed. “It _was_ perfect.”

Dawn felt her skin start to prickle again and looked around nervously. 

“What was that?” Charlie asked, looking confused, and then a framed picture by the bureau crashed onto the floor. 

That was the only warning before a dark grey cloud materialized over the glass fragments, transformed into the shape of a young woman in a Victorian dress, and let loose a howl that reverberated around the room.

“Holy shit,” Charlie yelped, jumping in front of Dawn.

Dawn pounded his back, hard. She wasn’t sure if it was more in terror or delight that she was finally, finally seeing a real ghost. Either way, her heart was beating madly, and she clutched his sleeve to make herself stop hitting him. 

The ghost focused on Dawn’s hand, eyes flashing a deep and unsettling red. “You can never trust sisters,” it spat, diving at the pair.

They ducked out of the way just in time, a rush of cold and fury just brushing them as they landed on the floor.

“Get the damn ring off,” Charlie shouted over the roaring howls, and Dawn struggled to remove it. It didn’t budge.

The ghost shrieked and started flinging Mary Anne and Charlie’s belongings through the air, battering Charlie as he knelt over Dawn protectively. They pulled desperately at the ring, and he yelled out as a book crashed on his back. 

The angry howl that filled the air turned into a high pitched screech of pain as a BANG echoed through the room. The whirlwind of flying objects slowed.

Dawn turned her head and saw Kristy at the cedar chest, hammer in hand.

“The pin is broken!” she called over the furious howls and wails, while Mary Anne pulled out the embroidery and ripped the threads and hair. “You okay?”

“The ring is stuck,” Dawn called back, thumping her hand on the ground. “I’m okay. Charlie?”

She heard his breathless “yes,” but it was lost as the ghost turned the flurry of objects on Kristy and Mary Anne. 

Dawn screamed as Mary Anne was hit from behind with a jewelry box and crumpled to the ground.

  
The ghost didn’t want the jewelry destroyed, so that had to be her focus. Not Mary Anne, quiet but stirring next to her, not Dawn, newly vulnerable to the ghost as Charlie crawled to Mary Anne. She gritted her teeth as things rained on her head. For the first time, she wished Mary Anne owned more stuffed animals and fabric.

“Where’s the necklace?” she called out, dropping to her knees as a basketball slammed her hip. 

“I don’t know,” Dawn called back. She was curled up, protecting her head as best she could while she wrestled with the ring. “It was on the chest. I think this is loosening!”

“Keep trying,” Kristy yelled. 

“I AM,” Dawn roared back, frustrated. 

Kristy knelt up, smacking away some of Mary Anne’s lipsticks as she searched the pile on the chest. No necklaces in the mess.

She dropped back down to the floor and slid under the bed, grateful that it blocked some of the wails and let her concentrate more easily. She patted the ground frantically, hoping for success. Sock, hair clip, pen, chain? She closed her hand around the necklace and pulled it out. 

Kristy lifted the hammer, but a vase to her wrist made her drop it and clutch her arm instead.

“I got it,” Charlie hollered. He grabbed the necklace and yanked, breaking it into two pieces.

The ghost shrieked in pain again, and Charlie smacked the remains with the hammer, crushing the pearls and shattering the links. 

The onslaught of items slowed again with more shrieks of pain, mingled with a shriek of triumph. 

“It’s off,” Dawn yelled. 

The speed of the flying objects was much less intense but the ghost dove for the ring as it landed on the floor. 

“Get it,” Kristy yelled, desperately. 

But as Charlie aimed the hammer, a baseball slammed against one of the posts on their bed, cracking it. It diverted his attention just enough for him to miss the ring, and the post crashed onto his shoulder. He dropped the hammer with a shout and Kristy and Dawn scrambled for it.

But Mary Anne got there first, not seeming to notice the cold or the attack of her belongings or the ghost. She didn’t hesitate, slamming the hammer down and cracking the ring. 

Lightning flashed outside as she struck, and thunder crashed as the ghost's screams of pain grew more feeble and her form faded.

Mary Anne hammered it again and again until the room was quiet.

The four didn’t move, sore, bruised, and a little bloody, panting in the mess of the room, staring at each other in shock. 

“I should have known that the price was too good to be true,” Charlie said finally, finding Mary Anne’s hand and clutching it tightly. She crawled into his lap and clung to him with all her strength.

Kristy didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. She ended up doing both as Dawn wrapped her arms around her and kissed the side of her head soothingly.

EPILOGUE  
  
None of them could face being upstairs one minute longer than necessary. Mary Anne grabbed a first aid kit and they gathered in the kitchen. No bones were broken, though Kristy’s wrist was a little swollen and Mary Anne had a lump from where she’d landed. The jewelry box hadn't done as much damage as they'd feared. They could hardly believe that they were alive and all in one piece.

Mary Anne stirred up a pot of cocoa for them, and Kristy flipped on every light they had while Charlie and Dawn gathered pillows and blankets. 

The ring of the phone made Mary Anne yelp, though they all jumped. Dawn answered. 

“The lightning struck the willow tree at the river,” she reported. “It’s been uprooted, so the project is off for now.”

“I’m glad,” Mary Anne said, as she and Charlie made a blanket nest for themselves on the couch.

“Me, too,” Kristy said, as they wrapped themselves in blankets on their oversized chair. 

“Does anyone else feel like a huge weight has been lifted?” Dawn asked. “Like, I hadn’t thought I was feeling particularly bad, but now that I’m not, it feels obvious.”

“I couldn’t understand why I was so upset every night,” Mary Anne said. “I didn’t like feeling like that, but I couldn’t get over it.’

“I really was mad when you left, Charlie,” Kristy said. “But I said some awful things that I didn’t really mean, to all of you.”

“I think we all have to agree that whatever happened since we bought the jewelry was because of the ghost,” Charlie said. He shook his head. “The ghost. We had a ghost in our house. I can never talk about this with anyone but you three.”

“I know,” Dawn said. “That was even worse than I imagined the secret passage ghost being. I think I’m ghosted out forever now.”

“Agreed,” Kristy and Mary Anne chorused. 

Quiet fell again, the pairs snuggling together, grateful to be safe with the ones they loved.

  
*  


“I liked the ring,” Mary Anne said to Charlie, just softly enough for him to hear. 

“Surprise,” he said ruefully. “I’m glad you liked it, ghost aside. I’m going to buy you another one, you know.”

“Vintage was a really nice idea,” Mary Anne said. “But maybe this time, it should look antique and be new.”

Charlie laughed. “I can run with that,” he said. 

“And if you ask on Christmas, I’ll definitely say yes,” she said, blushing a little.

“Then Christmas it is,” he promised.

  
*  


“I’m sorry about the marriage thing,” Kristy said quietly, staring down into her cocoa. “I didn’t really mean it.”

“I understand why you’d be scared,” Dawn said, after a pause. “A lot of the adults we know didn’t get it right at first.”

“Understatement,” Kristy said. “I always knew that I didn’t want to get married, but now I know that it’s because I didn’t want to be married to a man. But now we can go to New York and get married, and I don’t know. That’s different. You make it feel different.” 

“Maybe someday,” Dawn said, smiling when Kristy looked at her with wide eyes. “It’s okay, Kristy. What we have now is wonderful, and important, and just right for us. But someday, maybe we’ll want it.”

“Someday,” Kristy repeated thoughtfully. “Yeah, okay. Someday.”


End file.
